The photograph in this quilt was taken by my father on May 31st 1939 one day before my departure from Prague for Hachscharah in England.

We all gathered on the balcony of our apartment in Prague and my dad set up the camera on a tripod to take our family’s picture. As he did not have the equipment to take his own picture, he ran a black thread from the camera to his chair and when we were all ready, he pulled it.

On the back of the picture he wrote: “Before Heinz’s departure to Ashford” and the date. THIS WAS THE LAST PICTURE OF OUR FAMILY TAKEN TOGETHER.

My father, Otto Laufer, born in Kostany (Kosten), Czechoslovakia on April 16, 1893.

My mother, father and brother were deported from Prague to Terezin on February 8th 1942, transport numbers W793, W794, W795. My mother died in Terezin on March 10, 1944. My brother and father were deported from Terezin to Auschwitz on September 28, 1944 on transport number EK 453, where they are presumed to have perished.

The material behind the photo was given to me by my parents prior to my departure from Prague in May 1939.